Filming for season 19 of The Bachelorette is officially underway and Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast is breaking down the details of Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia’s potential suitors.
Suzana Somers, a.k.a. @BachelorData, revealed that the average age of the joint Bachelorette’s men is 29 years old.
“Technically, this is the third youngest cast, but the average age is 28.1,” the Instagram influencer said on the Tuesday, March 29, episode of Us’ “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast. “When you just look at ‘Oh, it’s the third-youngest cast,’ you’re like, ‘Oh, man, why are they casting so young?’ But it’s still 28, which is pretty close to [the average] marrying age [according to] the U.S. Census.”
ABC hasn’t officially confirmed plans for Gabby and Rachel, who have a five-year age difference of their own, dating the same group of guys. While the former cheerleader is 31, the pilot turned 26 earlier this month. This makes Gabby one of the oldest Bachelorettes in history.
“The median age of marriages in the U.S. is 30.5 years old,” Somers explained. “And I find it really interesting because if you look at the lead’s ages, Gabby is the third oldest Bachelorette — she’s tied with Trista [Sutter]. Trista was 31 also when she was the Bachelorette. And the only two older Bachelorettes are Rachel [Lindsay] and Clare [Crawley]. Clare was 39, but Rachel Lindsay was 32. So, I mean, it’s a year difference, but typically, they cast within the 26 to 30 range, so it’s a pretty small range that they cast the leads.”
Somers added that as far as “success rates” — couples who are still together or got married — are concerned, four of the six Bachelorettes who had long runs with their final rose winner were over the age of 26.
“Statistically if they’re older, they’ve been more successful, but not necessarily — the better indicator is the difference in the age between the lead and who they choose,” she continued. “Almost every single successful Bachelorette has chosen a [partner] that was their age or older. The only ones who did it were Trista and Michelle [Young], which Michelle’s season just finished recently. So up until Michelle’s season, there was only one Bachelorette who chose somebody who was younger than them.”
For more Bachelor Nation stats, listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.